Mona's story

Yemen’s brutal civil war, now entering its fifth year, has left 24 million people—80 percent of the population—in need of humanitarian aid. Widespread violence, hunger and a growing cholera epidemic have created what is widely considered to be the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Thirty-one-year-old Mona remembers a time when she and her neighbors could buy whatever they needed—food, fuel, medicine—but since the conflict began four years ago, the life she once knew crumbled before her eyes. 

“The war affected us really bad; struggling became our way of living. There is a shortage of almost everything…the status quo is unbearable.

When Mona’s daughters became dangerously malnourished and stricken with life-threatening diarrhea, she was terrified. Thankfully, the IRC was there to nurse them back to health. Mona now takes her daughters to the IRC-supported health center for lifesaving vaccinations and follow-up care.  She also receives reproductive health services there.

Sarah, IRC nutritional manager at the clinic, witnesses the grim consequences of the war on a daily basis. She oversees the screening of children under the age of five for malnutrition and counsels pregnant and nursing mothers on the importance of breastfeeding and how to meet their babies’ nutritional needs.

Seeing severely malnourished children recover fills Sarah with pride and hope. At the same time, she is keenly aware of the dangers and risks involved in bringing up a child in her war-torn country. “People are dying from hunger. They’re dying from disease.” Safety is also a major concern: air strikes are a constant threat and women are not safe outside after dark.

Now pregnant with her first child, Sarah fears for her own baby’s future. “How am I going to raise this baby, in this situation, during this conflict?”  

As the war rages on, Mona, too, remains anxious about what lies ahead. “Currently we are struggling yet still somehow making it. But, what about our children?

“God only knows what future is waiting for us,” says Mona. “Yemen was a heaven and now it’s destroyed. I wish that Yemen would go back to the way it used to be—its schools, economy, security and faith—that is my wish.”

The IRC’s field teams have been in Yemen since 2012, reaching families like Mona’s with critical health and nutrition services, clean water and sanitation, food vouchers and cash assistance.